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Tuesday, July 14, 2015

“Have nothing in your houses that you do not know to be
useful or believe to be beautiful.”

- William Morris

“Where the hell are my scissors?”

- Me

We live in an age of acquisitiveness. We have closets and
dressers full of clothes that are never worn, collections of knick-knacks that
gather dust, and many of us frankly have way too many cats. It’s not normal,
all those cats. And for those of us who quilt, the desire to obtain, collect,
and sometimes lick all the beautiful fabrics that comprise our craft borders
on obsession. It certainly doesn’t help when fabric manufacturers routinely
discontinue our favorite collections, only to release entirely new collections
that subsequently become our favorites, until we are so numbed by novelty we stop
noticing every single collection now has a deer print for no good reason.

We stuff our shelves with fat quarters and yardage and
pre-cuts, most of which will sit for years, never knowing the joy of
transforming into a painstakingly made wedding quilt that will eventually be
used to line a dog crate. Collecting soon becomes hoarding, especially after we
realize theTula Pink squirrel fabric now sells for $80 a yard on
Instagram. Perhaps those ferret fabrics you dug out of the bargain bin at
JoAnn’s will be worth just as much someday, who knows?

But are all those jelly rolls truly making us happy? Are the
extra hours our spouses have to work in order to afford the Ikea furniture to
store it all really worth it? Does stuffing our underpants to capacity with
mini-charm packs really feel as good as we say it does? And just how much
yardage can you really lick before you start to cough up fiber-balls? (Hint:
It’s less than you think.)

What if I were to tell you that there is joy to be
found in owning less fabric, in having fewer gadgets, in saying no to yet
another pattern? Would you call me crazy? Try to run me out of town on a rail?
Do you even know what a rail is or how to get one? No really, I’m asking, do
you? It’s for a friend.

To help you on your journey towards a simpler sewing life,
here are seven ways you can start to de-clutter your studio and begin your new
stitching life free from the burdens of too many possessions:

1. Keep track.Take note of every sewing-related purchase
you make in a month. How quickly did you run out of paper? How many of those
purchases were late-night sales on Instagram for Tula squirrels? Ask yourself
this: Are you really in love with pink rodents, or are you just following the
latest rodent trend? If naked mole rat fabric starts selling for twenty bucks a
fat quarter, are you gonna want that too? Actually, naked mole rat fabric would be pretty cool. But,
see, we didn’t know that before and now we do.

2. Get rid of
duplicates. Just how many Wonder Clips do you really need? When you stop to
think about it, do you even need more than one pin? You can just sew until you
reach that one, pull it out, and put it in further down. And let’s talk about
sewing machines, shall we? Be honest—how many do you own? Really? That many?
Wow. Okay, well, maybe consider paring those down to just six or seven.
Wouldn’t want to be hasty.

3. Clear off flat
surfaces. Tables, desks, shelves, toilet seats—these are all magnets for
clutter. Develop a zero-tolerance policy for storing things on all the flat
surfaces in your studio, and you’ll find your creativity soaring as you can now
probably walk past your cutting table without causing an avalanche. And where
should you now keep all the stuff you took off your tables? I bet you have room
where some of those sewing machines used to be.

4. Sell what you
don’t need. When you noted all of your sewing-related spending, you were
probably shocked to discover just how much capital you have tied up in
squirrels. Get a return on your investment by re-selling those rodents for far
more than you paid for them on Instagram. I know several people who have paid
for college tuition by selling bags of the lint produced from sewing on Heather
Ross Mendocino fabrics. And if you don’t have a lot of in-demand and
out-of-print fabrics to sell? Just put together a “scrap bundle” full of random
pieces with a tiny sliver of some Lizzy House hedgehogs hanging out—people will
gladly pay top dollar for just the possibility of some good rodents.

5. Go paperless. Nearly
every sewing and quilting book on the market today is also available in an
e-book version, so there’s no need to cram your shelves full of tree-killing
hard copies. Besides, how many quilts have you actually made from any of those
books? If you really feel the need to get the full quilt book experience, just
read something that makes your eyelids droop and then go look at a churn dash
block and call it modern. I promise you, it’s exactly the same.

6. Practice mindful
sewing. In order to truly appreciate the quilt you are making, you must
become one with it. As you sew, honor the fabric by petting it gently, telling
it how pretty it is, and assuring it that you love it even if it has no rodents
on it. Slow down your machine and time your stitches to your breathing. Breathe
in as the needle comes up, out as it descends. Keep a paper bag handy. Engage
all your senses while sewing: feel the fabric; see it’s beauty; hear the gentle
whir of the machine; smell and then taste the weird crusty spot that suddenly
appeared in the middle of your block. Maybe it’s peanut butter and you could
use the protein. Be grateful for this unexpected snack.

7. If you get
discouraged, remember the reasons you are simplifying. When you’re having a
hard time letting go of rodents or clearing away nine or ten of your sewing
machines, just remember: this isn’t about you. This is all about sticking it to
that one person in mini-group who thinks she’s soooo great just because her
sewing room looks like magic elves clean it up every night. Yeah, right. Magic
elves from the magic maid service company. Paid for by her magic trust fund.

*Hey, if you liked this, and you'd like to read more, I have a whole book of this stuff! It's called Quilting Isn't Funny and you can get a paperback copy or a PDF right here! (If you prefer Kindle or Amazon Prime, you can also get them on Amazon.)